


Queen of Small Heath

by Higgles123



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Love, series 1 tommy, younger tommy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28150098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgles123/pseuds/Higgles123
Summary: Tommy goes out to the country to soothe his soul and he soothes his heart at the same time
Relationships: Tommy Shelby/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	Queen of Small Heath

Tommy climbed out of the car and immediately he felt his entire body begin to relax as he breathed in the fresh country air. The grass twinkled with dew drop kisses in the early morning light, and as he glanced down briefly he could not help but think that his shiny black shoes seemed somewhat out of place. The chill in the air was enough to bring goosebumps to his skin but it wasn’t unpleasant, and the birds singing in the surrounding trees provided a pleasant wake up call to the humans in their midst. Already the smoke and smog of Small Heath felt like a distant memory and Tommy’s soul was soothed by the great outdoors, the place it felt most at home.

Closing his eyes, he breathed in the scent of charred wood as the families in the camp below started fires for cooking, yet coupled with the freshness of the clean air it wasn’t unpleasant in the way it would have been back home. A hint of smile came to Tommy’s full lips as he imagined that for a moment he could hear his mother laughing somewhere in the distance; her head thrown back and her long hair wild and free just as her manner always was when they were out travelling. She was always her happiest when they were out on the road, especially because his father was never with them and the woman she had been before he had ruined her with his toxicity was able to exist once more.

“They say only crazy people smile to themselves like that.”

Tommy’s eyes opened instantly and his grin grew even wider when he saw her. It didn’t matter that it had been almost two years because in his eyes she was unforgettable.

“Still sneaking up on people, I see,” Tommy murmured as his cool eyes roved the length of her body, noting with interest that the girl he had last seen was most definitely now a woman.

Without warning, the girl launched herself at Tommy and wrapped legs around his waist while his hands held her tightly against him. She smelled the same as she always had although he didn’t know how to describe it exactly, other than she always smelt like a summer’s day; like flowers and berries. Tommy remembered sitting in the trenches in the cold and the dark and he would lift the lock of black hair she had cut off and given him for luck, relishing in the smell that soothed his aching and anxious heart.

Amelia Kelly. Smelly Melly Kelly as he and his brothers used to call her just to see her scowl in rage, and to this day Tommy swore that the way she would scrunch up her nose and her neck would flesh red with anger was the most adorable thing. Not that he would have dared to tell her that in case she spat a curse upon him or something equally as terrible. Tommy Shelby was not scared of many people, but as a man now grown even he knew never to trifle with a gypsy girl. After all their tongues were as vicious as their glares, if not worse.

“It’s not my fault you’re so easy to sneak up on, Thomas,” Amelia grinned, her brown eyes twinkling mischievously. “So Johnny says you’re coming to stay with us for a few days. What did we do to deserve that honour? Or perhaps a better question should be who have you pissed off back home to warrant you needing to come and hide out here?”

“Who says I’m hiding from anyone?” Tommy smirked as they began to walk down to the camp together. “Maybe I just wanted to come and see your pretty face.”

“Shut up,” Amelia nudged him playfully.

“Tommy boy!” Johnny’s ever merry voice called out when he saw the two of them approaching. “And how did I know Amelia’d be right by your side. Always thick as thieves you two.”

“That’s only because nobody else ever wanted to hang around with the miserable sod so I took pity on him,” Amelia teased, glancing across the field to where she could hear her nephews and nieces arguing while her sister sighed exhaustedly. “And that’s my cue to leave. See you later, Thomas.”

“Not if I see you first, Smelly Melly.”

Tommy let out a short laugh when he got the desired reaction from Amelia in the form of a middle finger and a scowl that only somehow made her even prettier, and when he turned back to see the knowing look on Johnny’s face he shook his head.

“Not a word, Johnny,” Tommy murmured, lighting up a cigarette as his eyes flickered momentarily to follow Amelia’s figure as she stormed across the field to help her sister. “Not a fucking word.”

………..

“Was that Tommy Shelby?”

Amelia nodded as her sister squinted to try and get a better look at him stood with Johnny Dogs. Separating her two younger nieces who were arguing over a blue hair ribbon, she dragged them inside the _vardo_ and ignored her sister’s questioning look, trying her best to pretend that she wasn’t flustered by seeing Tommy again. Taking a pair of scissors, she cut the hair ribbon in half, quickly stopping the argument as the twin sisters took their piece each happily and then ran back outside to play.

“He’s not changed a bit,” Amelia’s sister, Natalie, commented from the doorway as she stepped inside to put the baby in her arms down to sleep.

“How would you know from all the way over here?” Amelia frowned, because truthfully to her Tommy looked different.

His looks hadn’t altered and he still held himself in that cock sure way he always had, but Amelia recognised something different in him; something different in his eyes. Those cool blue orbs looked at her with the same softness they always yet it was as though softness was something he was unaccustomed to any longer. All of the boys came back from the war different people but this was something more. This was a man who bore the weight of the world on his shoulders with what he hoped was casual indifference, but Amelia was certain she recognised the silent cry for freedom and solitude from the cage he had created for himself.

“Well I can see he’s still as handsome as he always was,” Natalie grinned. “He doesn’t need bloody razor blades in his cap to slice people up, those glorious cheekbones of his could do that.”

“Natalie, stop ogling Tommy Shelby,” Amelia scowled. “You’re a married woman.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t look,” Natalie wriggled her eyebrows suggestively. “And we both know that you’re thinking the same thing. I’m surprised you didn’t kiss his face off the second you saw him.”

“Shut up, Nat. You know there’s nothing like that between Tommy and I.”

“Yeah only because you’re too much of a chicken to tell him you fancy him.”

Amelia shook her head but she couldn’t deny that she did indeed fancy Tommy. She always had, and at one point she thought maybe he liked her too. They almost kissed once when she was fourteen and he almost sixteen but his brother, John had ruined it.

_The woods were slippery; too slippery for children playing hide and seek, trying their best to avoid being caught, running from one hiding place to another as quietly and quickly as possible. Too old to be playing hide and seek but not caring, Amelia held her breath as John and Martha, who were both the seekers, passed by the tree she was hiding behind. Once the coast was clear she took off at the speed of lightning, running as fast as she could. In her haste she didn’t notice the patch of autumn leaves that were grouped together a little too neatly to be natural and suddenly she found herself tumbling down a hole and landing with a thud._

_“Fucking hell, Melly,” a familiar voice grunted and a body shifted beneath her._

_“Tommy? What are you doing down here?”_

_“Hiding,” he grinned. “I dug this hole last night when everyone was asleep because I’m fed up of John and Martha always cheating and finding us all. So I figured they wouldn’t find me in here, but now that you’ve broken my cover they just might find me.”_

_“Has anyone ever told you you’re far too competitive, Thomas Shelby?” Amelia smirked._

_“A few people,” Tommy smirked back, shifting around and trying to ignore the way Amelia’s bottom wriggled unintentionally on his lap. She smelled like lavender today and her long hair was tickling his face, and Tommy, with his teenage hormones raging wildly, tried not to think about how soft and warm her body felt against him. “Now if you give me your foot, I’ll help you out of here.”_

_“No chance. I’m staying in here because this is the best hiding place ever.”_

_Amelia’s throaty laugh made Tommy smile. She was always so happy and it warmed his soul to be with her. With a pretend huff of annoyance he moved them both around so that she was sitting more comfortably on his knee and he wrapped his arm around her waist._

_“I wish we could just hide here forever,” she decided after the silence became too boring for her. “Imagine, sitting in here and just looking up at the sky and seeing all the stars. I bet it would be beautiful.”_

_“Hmm,” Tommy agreed, not taking his eyes off of her as she stared up to the grey clouds above and smiled in wonder._

_Before he could stop himself, he reached out a hand to cup her face, tracing her cheekbone with his thumb and when she turned to look at him in surprise, her mouth was parted ever so slightly. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips as she tried to read the expression in his eyes and that was Tommy’s undoing. His eyes held onto hers and kept her in a trance as his face neared her own; so close that she could feel his warm breath against her as she closed her eyes in anticipation._

_“Found you, you sneaky weasels.”_

_Amelia opened her eyes as Tommy growled. She couldn’t look up at John and Martha’s grinning faces as they leaned over the hole, afraid they would see how red her face was and know what she and Tommy had been about to do. Tommy climbed out of the hole first before reaching for her, and before he let go he gave her hand a small squeeze. She wasn’t exactly sure what it meant but at the same time she did. Maybe there would be another chance, another time._

There hadn’t been another time. Amelia and her family moved on, travelling wherever the open road took them and Tommy went back to his life in Small Heath. The next time they saw each other, there were no more games; no more pretending to be just young enough to run around carefree and wild. There were things to be done; responsibilities befitting of their ages and sexes. And then there was the war.

“Amelia, are you listening?”

“Hmm?” Amelia blinked, looking at her sister questioningly.

“You looked like you were in a world of your own,” Natalie rolled her eyes. “I asked if you would go and get on with the laundry while I get the kids fed? Looks like it might be a fairly decent day for drying clothes so it’s better to get it all washed sooner rather than later.”

“Of course,” Amelia nodded.

Anything to stop her mind wandering back to Tommy and what could have beens.

………

Tommy looked into the flames of the fire and found peace there. The dancing flickering lights calmed him; stopped him thinking about the usual things that plagued his mind. The stew in his belly had warmed him and the familiar tune on Johnny Dogs’ fiddle soothed him. He looked up and she was there across the way looking back at him, trying her best to pretend she wasn’t as her eyes quickly darted to the ground and she pretended to smile at something her brother in law said. He smiled to himself. She couldn’t hide her feelings any better than he could; she never had been able to.

The sun set and darkness fell, and one by one people returned to their caravans in search of warmth and in search of sleep, until only a few people remained. Amelia stood suddenly and without a word Tommy followed where she led, the two of them walking silently apart towards the river. They stopped, listening to the gentle swish of the water as it travelled along its path and when Amelia sat down Tommy did the same. She didn’t speak and neither did he; at least not for a while.

“Do you remember when I fell in the river at Appleby Fair when I was eight?” she murmured quietly, her voice barely more than a whisper like the gentle wind.

“Hmm,” Tommy nodded. “Your mum told you not to go near the water cos you couldn’t swim.”

“But I wanted to be with you and the others,” she hummed. “I would have drowned that day if you hadn’t have seen me struggling.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Tommy moved closer to her without even thinking about it and when she looked at him, the reflection of the almost full moon bounced off of her mahogany eyes.

He cupped her face and rubbed his thumb across her cheek just as he done those years ago, only this time there was no John to disturb them. Amelia smiled as Tommy bent his head to capture her lips in a gentle kiss that left them both breathless and wanting more. One hand entangled itself in her long loose hair while his other held her softly by the waist to pull her closer towards him until they pressed against each other as tightly as possible. Amelia gasped when Tommy’s tongue licked at her lips, seeking entry which she gave without hesitation and they kissed in the way they had both dreamed of for years.

“Come with me,” Tommy murmured when he pulled away finally.

“Where?”

“Anywhere,” he whispered, brushing her hair back from her face and tucking it behind her ear.

“What about your kingdom in Small Heath?” she grinned. “Who will rule the peasants if you’re not there?”

“True,” he grinned. “Perhaps it’s about time the kingdom had a queen.”

“I like the sound of that,” Amelia murmured, standing up on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around Tommy’s neck and kiss him again. “But if you want me to come with you then you’ll have to catch me first.”

Tommy grinned as Amelia took off at the speed of light, disappearing into the woods as her giggle called for him like a tree nymph. He would catch her alright, and then never let her go.


End file.
